Fine Again
by Daydrummer
Summary: There had been many life changing events surrounding Gibbs and his team...can they handle another so soon?
1. Prologue

Abby stood in front of the display for the longest time, staring at the boxes staring back at her. She was aware of the people around her, saying "excuse me" as they jutted in front or behind her, but she didn't really pay much attention. Her attention was upon the different boxes stacked upon each other, each section holding a different design or picture.

Some were simple colors, not as eye catching as the others whom held pictures of their products, or of happiness. Buying this box meant happiness for approximately 95% of the buyers; Abby just happened to fit into the 5% whom were completely terrified of even touching it.

"Having trouble deciding?"

Abby was startled back to real life, and found a short, rounded older lady standing next to her in the aisle. The lady smiled at her kindly, sensing her uncertainty, and picked up a simple blue and white box with gold lettering. "This one has always been a good one," she said softly, pressing the box into Abby's hands. "Quick answers and it's discreet, just in case you don't want anyone prying into your business."

Abby nodded, placing the box into the shopping basket hanging on her arm. "Thank you," she said softly, her eyes holding her nervousness.

She prayed the entire time she held that box in her possession, unaware of the world around her. She didn't hear the honking of car horns as she ran down the sidewalk, her iPod blasting DeathToll in her ears. She never saw the homeless people struggling to stay warm in the cold, wet weather. She never felt the rain falling around her as she fumbled for the keys to her apartment, unaware that the door was already unlocked.

Abby screamed.

End of Prologue


	2. Chapter 1

Gibbs did his best to walk through the hospital halls, but eventually just gave into running. Only when he saw Tony did he slow to a halt, looking at DiNozzo's eyes. "What the hell happened?"

Tony motioned towards the window in the door, staring. "Don't know boss; just know that when I went to pick her up from the car repair shop, they said she missed her drop off time to get the belts checked on her hearse, and hadn't heard from her. Tried calling her home and cell, finally drove by, found her like this. Her place was torn to shreds."

"What have they said about her? Anything?"

"Nothing yet, they're still working on her…No word how long she was like that either; could have been all night, or just a few hours. Maybe she was attacked after she was coming back from her morning run."

Gibbs looked through the window. "She's been running?"

"Every morning," Tony answered. "She's been trying to get healthier as of late…took up running a few weeks ago. All I know is what you see in front of you right now."

Gibbs sighed, running a hand through his graying hair. "Okay, call Ziva…"

"And McGee, get them over to her place for forensics and photos," Tony finished. "Got it, they're on their way over now. What do you want me to do?"

"Go ahead and join them; let them know everything you moved, touched, so on and so forth, so they can differentiate between you and the perp."

"On it," Tony said as he put his hat back on. "Keep us updated?"

"When they let me know something, I'll fill you all in," Gibbs promised, watching as Tony headed down the hall. He sighed as he kept watch in the window.

"I'm sorry, are you Special Agent Gibbs?"

"Yes, NCIS" he replied, flashing his badge to the man who had exited the room in front of him. "You are?"

"I'm Dr. Joseph Corsten, a trauma surgeon here on service," the gentleman introduced himself, holding his hand out in friendly gesture. "I've been assigned to Miss Sciutto's case."

"How is she?"

"We'll know more once we get inside, but it appears she was beaten and stabbed numerous times, but we're unsure with what," he explained. "She's definitely got some blood loss, and we're not sure about the head injuries at this time. Does she have any family we can contact?"

Gibbs sighed, shaking his head. "She cut ties with her family several years back," he said. "History of abuse, they refused to believe her, so… I became her emergency contact when it all happened."

Dr. Corsten nodded. "I'm not going to lie to you sir," he began, "but her heart has stopped once already since the transport brought her in. She's extremely critical right now. What all do you want us to do?"

"Do what you can. Abs has always been good about letting you know when enough's enough."

"Then we need to get her into surgery as soon as a theater opens," Dr. Corsten replied. "I'll notify the OR, but if you'd like to go see her, you can go in."

Gibbs slipped into the room, approaching slowly to her side. Her pale skin was paler than normal, her normal ruby red lips a pasty light pink instead. He could see the bruises beginning to form as much as they could considering the loss, bandages seeping a brighter red than he though was possible.

"For what its worth," a nurse whispered, "she probably got a few marks on her attacker. When agent DiNozzo came in with her, he wanted to bag her hands for evidence. Said he found skin underneath."

"He pull evidence?" Gibbs asked, surprised Tony would think ahead like that.

"Yeah, and it's already been sent to your labs via our courier," she responded. "He didn't want to leave her until you arrived."

Gibbs nodded, thinking to himself. Did Tony get to her in time? What happened that lead to this? Who would have the gall to do any of this to such a person?

His thoughts were interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. "We have an open theater now," Dr. Corsten said, "and we'd like to go ahead and move her. You can stay in the waiting room, if you'd like. We'll notify you of her condition as soon as possible."

"Thanks, but I've got an investigation to start, I need to go to the office for the evidence. Can you call me the moment she comes out? I need to station protection by her door."

"Certainly Agent Gibbs…okay folks, lets get her to OR 8…"

End of Part 1


	3. Chapter 2

"I can't believe she would sleep in a coffin," Ziva commented, as she combed through Abby's apartment for evidence. "It's just so… unnatural."

"Yeah, but you gotta understand," Tony replied, carefully brushing the door frame with dust for fingerprints, "Abby's not a natural person. I mean, who else do we know hangs out on online forums like '', you know?"

Ziva tipped her head to the side. "You do have a point," she said, as she took a photo for prosperity.

McGee ran into the room, breathing hard from sprinting in the rain to the apartment. "Nice of you to join us Timothy," Tony commented, his eyes cutting into McGee's heart.

"I'm sorry, I was in the middle of a book signing when I got the call," McGee apologized, grabbing a pair of gloves.

"Oh, oh, we're sorry we interrupted your little signing…" Tony started, only stopping when Ziva slapped him on the back of the head.

"Don't even start," she coolly eyed him. "No one was expecting this today, our day off. Let's just get back to accessing the evidence here and get back to the office to process."

"What do you want me to do?"

Ziva pointed towards the bathroom doorway. "In there; Tony and I will finish up out in the general area."

Tony and Ziva watched as McGee stepped gingerly over broken glass and items to the kitchenette. Tony turned to Ziva and slapped the back of her head.

"Hey, what was that for?!"

"Undermining my authority," Tony stated. "I'm the senior agent here…"

"And you're her friend, and you're his friend, and you're everyone's friend, Tony…you cannot let your feelings interject your authority right now. We all had other things we were doing when we got the call; he had his book signing, I had my martial arts class, Gibbs was probably working on his boat. Let's just finish processing the scene, so maybe, at the end of this, we may go back to those other things."

"Guys, you may want to see this." Tony and Ziva turned their attention to McGee, their eyes growing wide when they saw what was in his hand. "You don't think… "

"Bag it McGee," both replied in unison, unsure of what their eyes just saw.

Meanwhile, across town, he covered his wounds carefully. Every new strip of medical tape made him angrier, more pissed off than the last.

He had gone to just talk to her, and she flipped out. Why'd she flip out, he meant no harm…until she tried to run.

He told her not to do that…but she did. No one disobeys me, he thought, applying the final bandage, this one on his neck. "No one disobeys me and gets away with it," he growled in the mirror, his eyes nearly black with anger.

End of Part 2


	4. Chapter 3

The lab was an eerie silent as Tim brought in the evidence box for analyzing. No music playing, the only light coming from inside the glass-door fridges or computer screens on screensavers. He sighed as he stood in the doorway for the longest time, staring at her desk behind her glass doors, the screensaver a picture of them in happier times.

He was unnerved when he was searching the evidence at her home, unable to tell himself that this was just another crime scene. It wasn't just another crime scene…it was his ex's home. It held all of the typical knick-knacks that Abby held dear, but it held memories that he held dear too.

The times they'd sit back on the couch and watch basketball games…the after-bowling dinners…the times they would simply throw a blanket out in front of the fireplace and talk as the fire crackled away.

"You're gonna have to go in at sometime, McGee."

A voice startled him back to reality, as he turned to find Gibbs standing behind him. "Oh, hey boss," he replied, stepping through the threshold. "Just not used to being here without Abby around."

"Yeah, it is kinda creepy," Gibbs agreed, tossing on a pair of gloves as Tim dumped the plastic bin on the steel table, the chain of custody bags flying slightly as he did. "What'd we find?"

"We found some blood patterns consistent with the blood loss Tony said," Tim started, searching for the swabs. "We bagged all items that had any blood on them, in case any of it is the attackers."

"Good, good, Ziva uploading the photos now?"  
"Yes sir, and Tony is waiting on the hospital couriers to bring down the samples he bagged in the ER."

Gibbs nodded as he helped sort the evidence, until something caught his eye. "Where was this found?" he asked, holding up the evidence bag.

Tim swallowed. "Uh, the bathroom, sir," he answered, afraid of the barrage of questions Gibbs might ask. "The receipt for it and the plastic bag from the store in here somewhere…"

"Timothy…did you know anything about this?" Tim was silent as he shook his head, his eyes gazing down at the table. "Do you think it could be true?" Gibbs questioned.

"I don't know, sir," he replied. "We…we broke up about a month ago, and haven't really talked about anything but the cases since."

Gibbs nodded, not pushing the topic any further. Both continued to process the evidence until they heard the beeping of the lab door opening for another visitor.

"Hey Boss?" Tony said, "the hospital called your desk upstairs…Abby's out of surgery, and they have hospital security providing protection detail right now until one of us is up there."

"McGee, grab your gear and get up there," Gibbs said, not looking up from the evidence splayed before him.

"But boss, I can be more beneficial here, I can run the analyzers…"

"Yeah, but if she's conscious, you both got a lot of talking to do," Gibbs interrupted, raising his eyebrows slightly at his junior agent. "Go, Palmer can do this analyzing."

Tony watched as McGee tore the gloves off his hands and slammed them into the trashcan as he left. "He okay?"

Gibbs nodded his head and continued sorting. "He's a lot calmer than I was when I found out my girlfriend bought a pregnancy test…"

End of Part 3


	5. Chapter 4

Tim was as calm as he could be, his professional mannerisms overshadowing his personal. When he first laid eyes on Abby in the hospital, he resisted the urge to fall apart, show his human side to the people around him. Instead, he breathed deep, slow and calmly, nodded as the surgeon explained her injuries and current state.

He followed behind the gurney as he watched the nurses move her to a room, in the ICU sector. Her gun-metal black hair framed her face limply on the white pillow, her body motionless other than the staff pushing air into her lungs and general jostling around of travel.

"You the father?" a nurse asked, adjusting a IV drip.

"What, her father?" Tim asked.

"No, of the baby," she replied. Tim's eyes widened, his mouth slightly slacked open. "Oh dear, you didn't know? You seem to care deeply about her, so I thought you knew."

Tim cleared his throat and shook his head. "We found evidence at the scene…" he caught himself before going any further. "She never said anything," he simply finished.

The nurse seemed flustered for words as she finagled the drip. "We had to run a test before we could do any surgery," she explained, finally finishing with the tubing and letting it hang. "We're doing everything we can to keep the baby safe."

"So…she's still pregnant after all of this?"

She smiled and nodded. "They're both warriors," she answered, smoothing Abby's black hair gently, as a mother with a child would do. "I think she'll be okay. Just needs to rest. We'll wean her off of the machines tomorrow, but for right now, rest after surgery is the best thing."

Tim nodded, holding gently to Abby's limp hand. He cradled it in his, letting it conform to his cheek and chin as he warmed her fingers, his lips trembling prayers in whispered tones.

The odd sound of bagpipes came playing from Abby's lab, a cue that Ducky was hard at work inside. Gibbs laughed to himself as he walked in, finding it amusing how his people would mark their territory with music. "Anything yet Ducky?"

"Not as of yet, Jethro," Ducky replied, peering into a microscope. "The mass-spectrometer decided to breakdown again, so Mr. Palmer and I are doing this the old-fashioned way."

"Been telling Abby to price new mass-specs for a while," Gibbs replied. "She's hell-bent on keeping this one alive as soon as possible."

"She's a creature of familiarity," Ducky said, pulling away from the eye pieces of his microscope. "She likes her Major Mass-Spec, just the way he is."

"Yeah, broken a lot…anyways, what do you have for me?"

"Not much of anything as of yet, except her hands were on this at one point," Ducky replied, pulling the box of pregnancy tests out of the evidence bin. "Is she?"

"According to the hospital and McGee, yes."

"Oh goodness, what joy!"

"Yeah, joy that possible could have killed her," Gibbs added. "Anything on the blood samples?"

"Yes, yes, two distinctive types. One I've matched back to Abby's type from her personnel file, the other I'm sending off for DNA confirmation."

"What about fingerprints? Those going in the system yet?"

"Mr. Palmer just loaded it into the database for searching…no hits yet."

"Let me know if anything comes back," Gibbs replied, heading towards the door.

"Jethro, a question," Ducky asked, raising his eyebrows slightly. "How is Abigail doing?"

Gibbs stopped and looked at the coffee cup in his hands. "She's in a coma right now…several severe injuries. They don't know when she'll awake from it all."

Ducky walked over to Gibbs and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "She's a strong girl, this we all know… she'll wake up, just like you did; when the time is right again."

End of Part 4


	6. Chapter 5

They took turns sitting with her, one at a time. Each brought their own form of entertainment to the quietness.

Ziva talked about the guys she saw as she was jogging. "You wouldn't believe what I saw today," she'd always start off, before launching into a lengthy monologue about leggy boys in short shorts. "You would have just fallen over drooling, he was so dreamy…"

Ducky always talked about his mother and her latest escapades. "Mother was particularly excited today, dear Abigail…she seriously thought she saw Sean Connery at the market. Poor lad, he had no idea what had hit him when she started to scream "Sean!" at the top of her lungs, and then launched herself at him…"

Gibbs was silent as he sat, watching and waiting. He'd play some music on the little radio Tony had brought in because "she's never without her tunes, Boss, she's just got to have them," but never the really spacey-hard stuff she typically bounded around to in the lab. Gibbs would chuckle softly to himself, remembering countless discussions on how Air Supply "just isn't music Gibbs! You can feel the raw emotion of Zombie Mantle Piece…all you feel from Air Supply is…well, nothing! It's air!"

Tony brought movies. Sometimes he'd put a grisly thriller into the portable player, but mostly he kept to his beloved action and oldies. He'd sit there and ramble about the golden age of the screen. "Oh, this is such a good one," he'd say, pulling the bedside table around to place the player on. "McClintock…classic John Wayne twangs and slings," he said, attempting to get comfortable in the visitor's chairs.

Tim wasn't much different from Gibbs with watching her. Sometimes he'd find his thoughts drifting to work or the latest section of his book that he was crafting, but mostly he thought about Abby and the baby. He wondered if it truly was his, knowing the gnawing feeling at his heart it was. Abby was super cautious of anything, and yet, willing to go full throttle into everything. He never was able to get out of her what had happened in her past, just that she was hurt by her family, moved up here from Louisiana, and had been here ever since. Every now and then she'd reminisce back to her younger days, talking about the friends she had in school, or driving around the Parish without a care in the world. Abby could appear to be free and up to anything in the world, but past her strong gothic exterior, she was just a simple, shy girl.

Several days passed as the doctors tried to wean her from the ventilator, each day making more progress, but yet she never came completely around enough for liking. Ducky didn't seemed concerned with this; everyone else was insanely worried by it. "You ever take in consideration how much caffeine she drinks?" Ducky would say nonchalantly. "Poor girl needs her rest."

"Yeah, but she needs to wake up Duck," Gibbs replied back. "The longer she's like this, the less she'll continue to recover."

"I am perfectly aware of this Jethro," Ducky answered back. "And as I always say, she'll come around in her time…"

It was very late one night during Tony's watch when she began to stir. Tony had turned his attention from the movie playing to watching Abby, studying her form, face, hair, everything that made Abby herself. His eyes studied the tattoos on her arms, his mind wondering what she was thinking when she had them done.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized he didn't know Abby as well as he thought he did. He had never asked about her tats, or why she had such an odd taste in music; he just knew that she'd always been the way she was. She'd always been the gunmetal black haired, tattooed, self named "lab freak" who openly blared her music and her emotions to all around her.

"What is it you're not telling us Abs?" he asked out loud, gently holding her hand in his. The slow curling of her fingers startled him enough that he pulled away quickly. "Abby?"

An alarm blared next to her bedside, and suddenly Tony found himself shoved aside as a whirlwind of people filed in by her bedside. "What's going on?" he asked over and over, trying to find a spot where he could observe the happenings.

"What were you doing when the alarm started going off?" Dr. Corsten asked, as he came into the room.

"Nothing, I was holding her hand, that's all," Tony explained. "What's going on?"

"She may be waking up. Abby…Abby, can you hear me?" Dr. Corsten asked, shining a light into Abby's eyes. "Come on and open your eyes."

Tony pushed himself through the throng to be back at her bedside. He gently picked up her hand in his. "Abs, if you can hear me, squeeze my hand again, like you did before."

Everyone gasped as they watched her fingers curl weakly, her eyes barely slit open. "What's her vent rate?" Dr. Corsten demanded of the respiratory tech.

"She's pulling more than it's giving…want to extubate?" the tech asked back.

"Yeah, have a mask standing by. Abby, you want that tube out of your throat?" Tony breathed a small sigh of relief as he saw her head shake up and down slightly on the pillow. Dr. Corsten gently removed the tape holding it in place, and removed the air from the cuff. "On three, I'm gonna pull, and you need to blow as hard as you can, okay? One, two…three."

Abby's grip on Tony tightened as the tube was pulled, followed by lung-wracking coughing on Abby's part. The respiratory tech gently slid an oxygen mask over her nose and lips, as Abby gasped for breath. Her eyes rested on Tony's as she wheezed, her free hand reaching for the mask to pull it off.

"You gotta leave that on Abs," he said calmly, reaching for her hand. "You've had us worried."

"McGee," she whispered. "Need…Tim…"

"I'll call him in a minute, you've gotta get settled down again," Tony replied, squeezing her hands again.

"If you want to make that call now, we've got some questions to ask her," Dr. Corsten. "Won't take but a minute, then you can come back."

Tony nodded, then gently brushed Abby's hair with his hand. "I'm gonna step outside the room, let the doctors take care of you, okay?" he said, waiting for confirmation from her eyes that it was safe. He slid his cell phone out of his pocket as he closed the door behind him, and began to call…

End of Part 5


	7. Chapter 6

Tony was leaning on the wall outside Abby's room when Tim came flying down the hallway, and held his hand out to stop him from entering. "Wait McGee, they're still with her," he explained.

"What's happening, what has happened, what's going on?" Tim asked in quick succession, attempting to look at the shadow figures through the glass and curtained wall. "How's Abby?"

"Alive, McGee," Tony responded. "Now just slow yourself down. The doctors are in there evaluating her now."

Tim waited with bated breath until Dr. Corsten pulled back the curtain between Abby and the glass wall. "Agent DiNozzo, Agent McGee, she's currently resting comfortably. Her evaluation wasn't as we hoped, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Please keep in mind she's been unconscious for a long time, and with her injuries, if she doesn't make a ton of sense, it may or may not be permanent. We won't know until more testing and time has passed."

"Is it safe to ask questions without any relapsing?" Tony asked. "There's still a lot of gaps we need to bridge in our investigation."

"I wouldn't advise it at this point in time," Dr. Corsten replied. "She's had one heck of a scare today… let's just let nature take its course in that area. If she's ready, I'm pretty sure she'll tell you."

"Can we see her?" Tim asked, a sense of urgency in his voice.

"Certainly, go right ahead."

Abby still looked pale and weak laying in bed, an oxygen mask misting over her nose and mouth, IV ports trailing over her weakened arms. Her eyes were tired, but gave a slight spark when she heard footsteps.

"Abby?" he said softly, approaching to take her hand gently. "Honey, I'm here…"

"He was there," she simply said. "I thought he was gone…"

"Who was there?" Tony gently prodded. "Who was supposed to be gone?"

"Bad guy," she replied. "He was a bad guy."

"What was his name?" Tony prodded again.

"He wouldn't leave me alone," Abby said, her voice getting more choked than before.

"Okay, it's okay Abs," Tim said soothingly, shushing her gently to calm her down. "Get some rest and we'll talk about this when you're feeling better."

Tears formed at the corner of her eyes as she turned to face him. Tim could see in her eyes the medication the nurses gave her to calm her down. She looked at him as best she could through the haziness. "I never meant for it to happen…" she slurred, closing her eyes into slumber.

"Never meant for it to happen," Tony commented, "what could she mean by that?"

"I don't know Tony," Tim said, stroking her cheek gently with his thumb. "But I intend to find out."

"I'll give you a little bit together," Tony replied, excusing himself quietly to give Gibbs a call with his information.

As he backed out of the room, he felt himself bump into someone. "Oh, sorry sir," he apologized to the gentleman he just shouldered.

"It's okay," a familiar voice echoed. "Surprised to see you here."

Tony looked into the eyes of Mikal Mawuer, automatically puffing his chest up and his eyes icing over. "Fancy you too… you work here?"

"Part of my rehabilitation program," Mikal replied. "I'm a custodian for four hours a day during the week."

"Uh-huh, I see," Tony said, eyeing his mop in hand. "Well, nice to see you, I've gotta get back to the office… you know, you should have someone look at those scratches."

Mikal laughed. "Nah, they're alright," he replied, patting his neck's bandaid. "The little lady, she likes it rough."

"Uh-huh," Tony could merely say as he walked away, shaking his head in amazement, making a mental note to check into his rehabilitation program to verify…

End of Part 6


End file.
